A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, system and method for the production of high-quality materials. More specifically, the present invention relates to the thermal inspection of materials, location of defects in those materials, and providing of feedback into a processing control to identify, reduce, and remove the incidences of defect production in the material.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Thermography is generally known. It is used, e.g., in probing aircraft surfaces and other materials for hidden cracks and flaws.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,603 discloses a transient depth thermography technique for the nondestructive testing of objects. The method includes steps of heating the surface of an object, recording pixel intensity for each pixel in a heated surface, and determining pixel contrast from pixel intensity. The method monitors the pixel contrast over successive images to determine the location of a flaw within an object and the surface can be depicted on a print which correlates the flaws with their depth coded by color.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,821 discloses a method and apparatus for checking IC chips for defects by scanning fluorescent microthermal imaging. The method uses a scanned and focused laser beam to excite a thin fluorescent film disposed on the surface of an integrated circuit chip. Localized heating associated with IC chip defects is observed by collecting fluorescent radiation from the film and forming a thermal map.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,485 discloses a method of analyzing structures by time-varying thermal signals. A projector projects a moving pattern of heat onto a test object, and an infrared camera insensitive to the projected wavelength detects emitted heat from the object. Variances in the pattern are caused by heat buildup by resistance to downward and lateral flows of heat energy, and thus may detect cracks and debonding simultaneously.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,241 discloses a dual-band infrared imaging method. Computerized tomography images the structure using infrared. A structure to be imaged is heated by at least two different wavelengths of infrared radiation, images are sequentially obtained, and the images are utilized to determine whether a flaw is present.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,727 discloses the detection of defects in manufactured products by thermal ratio analysis, which is said to involve the ratio s of thermal data and their analysis including statistical analysis. Also disclosed is image enhancement and the rejection of known artifacts.